Decorative method and product



BEST AVAILABLE COPY June 13, 1939. B. ASNES 2,161,990

' DECORATIVE METHOD AND PRODUCT Filed July 12, 193'? meme BEST AVAILABLE COPY UNITED STA'i'Ei FFEQE DECORATIVE METHOD AND PRODUCT setts Application July 12, 1937, Serial No. 153,139

13 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel type of decorative material and to a method of making the same, the principal objects of the invention being to provide an improved decorative sheet material having any regular or irregular design and preferably having an appearance similar or comparable to such textile fabrics as moire, changeable moire, changeable taffeta, metal cloth and like fabrics which possess a surface finish capable of producing nacreous, striated, polychromatic or the like variegated color effects; and to provide a simple, efiicient and economical method of making such material.

In one aspect of the invention crepe paper or other absorbent cellulosic sheet material is first embossed so as to have hills and valleys and then coated with coating material. The coating material is preferably transparent, that is, not sufficiently opaque to prevent the sheet material from showing through the coating, and it preferably contains finely-divided particles of high specular reflection, whereby contrasting effects may be obtained. The coating material is preferably applied to the sheet material in the form of a pool or other mass and then relative movement is produced between the mass and paper, as by feeding the sheet of paper lengthwise under the mass, thereby to leave on the paper a thin coating of variable thickness depending upon the variations in the paper produced by the aforesaid embossing. That portion of the mass in excess of the thin coating left on the paper is preferably held back, as the paper advances, by a scraper, roller, air jet or other means to push against the mass, said means serving to push many of the aforesaid light-reflecting particles off said hills into said valleys, it being understood that the hill tops may be fiat or rounded or of other configuration depending upon the character of embossing. After the coating is partially or wholly dried the sheet may be stretched to rupture the coating at frequent intervals, thereby exposing the underlying surface of the paper through the cracks.

Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following description and the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view illustrating a preferred method of making a decorative sheet 50 material in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a face view of a piece of crepe paper prior to embossing;

Fig. 3 is a face View of a piece of embossed 65 Cr p Fig. 4 is a face view of the embossed crepe after coating;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on the line 5-5 of Fig. l;

Fig. 6 is a face view of the coated material after stretching; and

Fig. '7 is an enlarged section on the line 'l'! of Fig. 6.

According to the present invention novel variegated color effects are produced by coating embossed crepe paper, or like sheet material, with a transparent coating containing light-reflecting particles or pigment, such for example as gold, silver or colored bronze powders, the light-reflecting particles being present in an amount insufiicient to mask the embossed surface of the sheet material so that the finished surface has a variegated or changeable appearance due to the difference in the hue, tone and intensity of the light reflected from different portions or areas of the surface.

The embossing operation is preferably performed by embossing rolls, dies or like instru- .mentalities capable of producing the desired design which, for example, may be a floral design, pebbling, stippling, a design simulating the water effect of a moire fabric, that of a taffeta or any type of 'woven or knitted fabric, or any other design or figure in relief. The transparent coating may consist of any of the conventional coating materials such as casein or starch or other water-dispersible materials or preferably pyroxylin lacquers or the like cellulose derivatives, varnish, shellac, synthetic resins such as rezyl solutions, or mixtures of such materials, with or without the use of plasticizers. The pigment or light reflecting particles may comprise such metallic substances as bronze, gold or silver powder having a fineness capable of producing the desired effects, hereinafter more fully explained; or if desired the pigment or pigments may comprise flake-like particles such as powdered mica, fish scales, powdered Cellophane, etc.

The novel variegated effects which I obtain may be produced in a number of different ways, of which the following are typical examples.

The embossed sheet material may be coated with a transparent coating material in amount sufiicient to cover the entire surface of said embossed material without hiding the embossed designs. Distinct variegated efiects, bearing a definite relationship to the embossed design will be obtained in this case, due to the relative thickness of the transparent coating in different areas,

the angle of reflected light, and the relative smoothnesses of the various surface areas L, i-."- show alhigher degree of specular reflectivity and In another case, variegated eifects mayb'ebbtained by a method which is particularly applicable to embossed crepe paper. According to this method, the embossed crepe paper is coated with a transparent coating material, in an amount sufficient to cover the entire surface, and the paper is subsequently subjected to a stretching effect in a direction transverse to the creping. The effect of such stretching is to break the coating film, thus revealing areas of uncoated material having a different appearance than the coated areas. This produces a variegated effect quite unlike that obtained in other cases where the embossed material is coated with a transparent coating material.

Particularly pleasing and novel effects may be obtained by coating embossed sheet material with transparent coating solutions in which are dispersed flat pigment particles of high specular reflection, such as the metallic pigments commonly known to the art as bronze powders, or other similar materials such as powdered mica, fish scales, powdered Cellophane, etc., in amounts insufficient to cover the entire surface of the embossed material. It is obvious at once that a wide range of color combinations and effects is possible through the selection of dispersed particles of the proper size and color. Since the pigment is applied in limited amounts, only certain portions of the surface will be covered with pigment, thus bringing out variegated effects which bear a definite relationship to the embossed design. The result of coating in this manner is a highly interesting variegated effect in which the various areas will differ not only in the hue, tone and intensity of reflected light, but will also differ in the ratio of specular to total reflection. In all cases, these variegated effects will bear a definite and controllable relationship to the embossed design.

The method of producing variegated effects by the application of coating materials containing dispersed pigments of high specular reflection may be varied by applying coating materials of such composition and in sufficient quantities to cover the entire surface of the embossed materails without destroying the embossed designs. The variegated effect obtained in this case is dependent largely upon the hue, tone and intensity of the light reflected from different portions or areas of the surface depending upon the thickness of the coating applied, the angle of reflection and the relative smoothnesses of the different surfaces.

The effects obtained by the application of coating materials in which are dispersed pigments of high specular reflection may be further enhanced and varied in the case of embossed crepe paper by subsequently stretching the sheet material in a direction transverse to the creping lines. The result of this stretching action is to break the film of coating material, revealing the color and surface effects of the original uncoated material, thus adding further variety to the variegated effect.

In the use of pigments of high specular reflection a considerable control of the effects is possible through proper choice of the pigmenting material particularly with reference to particle size. Thus with pigments which are relatively fine in reference to the embossed design the detail of the design is brought out and enhanced. Relatively coarse pigments are not so effective in respectto the detail of the embossed design but hence have glitter and shine.

Control is also possible through choice of embossing designs. Deeply embossed designs are in general more affected by coating than shallow. Coarse designs show their variegated effect largely in the form of clearly defined patterns whereas very fine designs are more apt to be characterized by shimmering lustrous effects.

I am not limited, however, to the use of pigments of high specular reflection as described in the last three examples, but may substitute in their place white, black or colored pigments of the type commonly used in inks, paints, lacquers or other coating materials, or I may disperse any other powdered material in the coating medium. In all of these cases variegated effects are obtained which bear a definite relationship to the embossed pattern, and are distinctly different from the results obtained by first coating a sheet material with any of the specified coating materials and subsequently embossing.

The technique of coating sheet materials comrises the application of quantities of coating material in excess of that required for the final effect and subsequently removing the excess. Such removal may be accomplished by means of a spreader bar, rollers, a blast of air or any other suitable means.

Referring to the drawing, the preferred method of manufacture involves apparatus such as illustrated in Fig. l, in which the numeral i designates a supply roll of tissue or other sheet mate rial S which passed over a creping drum 2 provided with the usual doctor blade t which forms transverse crinkles indicated at 5 in Fig. 2. The sheet S is then passed between a pair of cooperating embossing rolls 6 carrying the design or configuration to be applied, here shown by way of example as a longitudinally extending series of corrugations 8 (Fig. 3), such embossing rolls being capable of producing any figure or design in relief. The sheet is then passed under a mass '2 of the aforesaid coating material. In the illustration the mass 1 is confined in a hopper 9, the side walls of which extend into contact with or at least into close proximity to the paper so that the paper can pick up only a thin continuous coating ii].

The coated sheet is then passed through a dryer i5 wherein the coating it is at least partially dried, depending upon the desired appearance to be produced. For example, if it be desired to provide a product simulating the appearance of a metal cloth, the coating may be thoroughly dried and the sheet wound or out up into rolls or bundles of the desired size; but where it is desired to produce a striated effect, the coating is preferably partially dried and the sheet is then passed through a stretching apparatus, designated by the numeral it, which in this particular illustration is effective to stretch the coated sheet longitudinally and preferably in a manner and to an extent sufficient to break the coating I!) along spaced zones which extend predominantly in one direction, thus exposing uncoated areas 25 of the embossed surface, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7. The finished sheet may then be further dried or treated in any suitable manner before being wound up on the roll 22.

Although the coating ill is spread substantially uniformly over the embossed surface, it does not have this appearance on the 'finished material, a careful examination lights showing that the flakes or particles of bronze or other pigment are oriented so that the incident light is reflected from their surfaces at certain angles and from the underlying surin different face of the crepe paper at other angles. Accordingly, when a specimen is rotated in its plane through 90 the color of the crepe predominates when the parallel embossing lines are approximately parallel to the direction of the incident light, and the bronze color predominates when the embossing lines are approximately perpendicular to the direction of incident light.

It is thus apparent that it is possible to produce many types of tone patterns, depending on the nature of the embossing. The selection of any system of parallel lines, or nearly parallel lines, permits a two-tone pattern in which the pattern changes with respect to the direction of incident light, and the selection of a pebbled stippling or parallel lines running in two directions and at right angles to each other will produce a two-tone pattern which does not change as the direction of incident light is varied. Even though the paper be completely covered by color particles (or flakes) in the coating operation the two-tone effect may be produced by stretching the paper transversely of the creping to separate the particles enough to expose the paper between the particles or groups of particles.

By embossing the crepe paper before it is coated and then coating the paper in such a manner that some of the light-reflecting particles are pushed off the embossed hills into the intermediate valleys, distinctly new decorative effects are obtained. By employing absorbent cellulosic material, the embossed surface is readily wetted and the coating easily made continuous notwithstanding the irregularities produced by the embossing.

While I have shown and described one desirable embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that this disclosure is merely for the purpose of illustration, and that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Method of making decorative material which comprises embossing creped paper so that it has hills and valleys, placing on the embossed creped paper a mass of transparent coating material containing finely-divided light-refleeting particles, feeding the embossed paper under said mass while concomitantly removing all of said transparent material except a thin coating and pushing some of the finely-divided light-reflecting particles from the hills into the valleys.

2. Method of making decorative sheet material having a'surface finish exhibiting variegated color effects, which comprises embossing a sheet of crepe paper, subsequently applying to its embossed surface a transparent coating material containing a finely-divided opaque light-reflecting pigment in amount insufficient to mask the embossed surface of said paper, and treating the coated surface so that said particles are deposited predominantly in the depressed areas of said embossed surface.

Method of making decorative sheet material having a surface finish exhibiting variegated color effects, which comprises embossing a sheet of crepe paper, subsequently applying to its embossed surface a transparent coating material containing a dispersion of metallic particles in amount insufficient to mask the embossed surface of said paper, and treating the coated surface so that said particles are deposited predominantly in the depressed areas of said embossed surface.

4. Method of making decorative sheet material having a surface finish exhibiting variegated color effects, which comprises embossing a sheet of crepe paper, subsequently applying to its embossed surface a transparent coating material containing a finely-divided light-reflecting pigment in amount insufficient to mask the embossed surface of said paper, and stretching said sheet so as to break said coating in numerous places and expose uncoated areas of the surface of said sheet.

5. Decorative material comprising creped paper having hills and valleys embossed therein and an absorbent surface, and on said surface a continuous coating of greater thickness in the valleys than on the hills.

6. Decorative material comprising creped paper having hills and valleys embossed therein and an absorbent surface, and on said surface a continuous coating of greater thickness in the valleys than on the hills, said coating being transparent and containing lightreflecting particles more numerous in the valleys than on the hills.

7. A decorative material having a surface finish producing variegated color effects, com prising an embossed sheet of crepe paper having on its embossed surface a transparent coating containing a finely-diveded opaque light-reflecting pigment in amount insufficient to mask the embossed surface of said paper, said pigment being deposited predominantly in the depressed areas of the embossed surface of said paper.

8. A decorative material having a surface finish producing variegated color effects, com prising an embossed sheet of crepe paper having on its embossed surface a transparent coating containing a finely-divided light-reflecting pigment in amount insufficient to mask the entire embossed surface of said paper, said coating being separated at numerous places and exposing uncoated areas of the embossed surface of said paper.

9. A decorative material having a surface finish producing variegated color effects, comprising an embossed sheet of crepe paper having on its embossed surface a transparent coating containing finely-divided light-reflecting particles in amount insufficient to mask the embossed surface of said paper, said coating being separated along spaced zones extending predominantly in one direction and exposing spaced uncoated areas of the embossed surface of said paper.

10. Method of making decorative paper which comprises creping the paper, embossing the creped paper to form hills and valleys extending transversely of the creping, and applying to the embossed crepe paper a coating containing finelydivided light reflecting particles with the particles deposited predominantly in said valleys, thereby to form lines of relatively thick coating material along said valleys.

11. Method of making decorative paper which comprises creping the paper, embossing the creped paper to form hills and valleys extending transversely of the creping, applying to the embossed crepe paper a coating containing finelydivided light reflecting particles with the particles deposited predominantly in said valleys, thereby to form lines of relatively thick coating material along said valleys, and then stretching the paper transversely of the creping to break up said lines into short sections.

12. Decorative material comprising creped paper having hills and valleys extending transversely of the creping and coating containing finely-divided light-reflecting particles deposited predominantly in said valleys, forming lines of relatively thick coating material along said valleys.

l3. Decorative material comprising creped paper having hills and valleys extending transversely of the creping and a coating containing finely-divided light-reflecting particles deposited predominantly in said valleys, forming lines of relatively thick coating material along said valleys, said lines comprising short sections slightly spaced from each other along said valleys.

BENJAMIN ASNES. 

